Often, patients require continued Care even after discharge from the hospital to help them fully recuperate. In such a case, case management, which includes assessing the health and the psychological needs of the patients is necessary. This paper presents responses of Jean, a Registered Nurse who act as a case manager in Kane Hospital on her roles and challenges that she encounters in the field. The responses were obtained during an interview with the registered nurse.
Role of a discharge planner
Jean stated that her role as a discharge planner is to ensure the release of the patients from the hospital to a proper environment that can enhance quick recuperation. Additionally, she said that sometimes she fills the role of the nurses by seeking to deliver quality care as well as ensuring the continuity of patient care in Medical Care. It is also the responsibility of the discharge planner to coordinate the planning of care patient with the patient, physicians, and the family to ensure that both the patients and family have access to the care plan and also have the understanding of the treatment or recovery goals (Lowery, 2017). They act as liaise between the patient and the physicians by planning meetings. They plan discharge for the patients and provide the family with proper at-home Care.
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Who else Discharge Manager Cooperate With
During the interview, Jean states that among the personnel that case managers work with include the patient, family, and the healthcare professionals providing Care to the patient. Patients and the family are always included in making care transition decisions.
Population Served
On the matter of the served population. The discharge planner said that the majority of the people receiving the transition care are the old in society. Jean archived that besides the general age-related impairment, they are at risk of illnesses such as dementia, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer ( Murer et al., 2011) . As a result, they are always in need of continued Care when moving from Acute Care to other health center or at home for quality and improving services.
Community Resources
Some of the resources that case managers help patients to get include home care in the form of medical Care, social support, and even help with the daily tasks as the patient continues to recover. Other resources include adult day care for the elderly, senior centers, and meal programs to deliver meals for the patients while at home.
Role of Discharge Planner as Helpful to the Patients
Jean felt that providing patients and the family education on how they offer healthcare services from home and at the same time help them to acclimate to the new space helps the patients to avoid the case of hospitalization. Also, from the assistance, patients can acquire high-quality services through the advocacy and recommendation of the care managers. Healthcare education makes it easy for the patients and the family to care for themselves and their loved ones, respectively.
Challenges of Discharge Planner
Some of the difficulties that Jean discussed as encountered by case managers include lack of sufficient training to educate and ensure patients a safe transition. Sometimes, activities n case management are quite diverse and complicated to the extent of confusing the discharge planner on the extent they need to go in service provision ( Murer et al., 2011) . The unfriendly relationship between the patient and the case manager can also result in a lack of collaboration between the parties, thus resulting in unsuccessful case management.
Challenges with the Vulnerable Groups
The greatest challenge that case manager face for helping the LGBT group is the increase in discrimination. In the United States, despite the support for the rule, people are highly discriminated on their sexual orientation. Thus, it would be difficult for a nurse to recommend a given institution for particular treatments that involve the LGBT group. In the case of the non-English speakers, communication battier can affect the effectiveness of the transition case hence interfering with the ability of the case manager to help the patients in moving to the next level of healthcare.
References
Lowery, S. L. (2017). Case Managers Facing Legal Challenges: Application of the Standards of Practice. Professional case management , 22 (4), 185-187.
Murer, C. G., Murer, M. A., & Brick, L. L. (2011). The Case Management Workbook: Defining the Role of Physicians, Nurses, and Case Managers . CRC Press.
